Body Issues
by Gohan Roxas
Summary: [AU] She never saw how perfect she was. She only saw flaws. Flaws that, according to him, didn't exist. CloTi. Rated T for nudity and themes.


_**I was scrolling through Tumblr and saw pages of a doujin that danseru-kun had posted under the CloTi tag. Apparently in that doujin Tifa's an anorexic. I don't know the full story, but I made this after seeing the pics. Enjoy.**_

If there was one thing Tifa hated most about herself it was her weight. Every time she looked in a mirror she saw rolls of fat everywhere. Imperfections. She hated it.

Her face was nice enough – amber eyes, long black hair – but that damn full figure of hers! How horrifying it was.

So she started working out all the time. Martial arts training, weights, the whole nine yards. It didn't work in the way she hoped. Annoyingly, she only put on muscle, which made her even heavier. So she mostly gave up on it all.

She even went to the point of starving herself. Her roommate and childhood friend Cloud started getting worried at that point. He practically forced her to eat. She eventually relented, eating salads. Cloud started feeling a little better about it all.

What he didn't know was that every night Tifa was sticking two fingers down her throat.

Eventually, he did find out. He caught her. And she didn't even apologise for lying to him. All she said was "You wouldn't understand." She was right. He didn't.

He didn't understand why someone as perfect as her saw only the dark side.

In truth, Cloud had been in love with her for years. He'd even joined the army to try to impress her. He did see some action – he even got a medal out of it – but an IED put an end to that. He had shrapnel all throughout his body, so there were scars all over him.

His friend Zack wasn't so lucky.

He'd met Zack after he enlisted. Happy-go-lucky, with dark hair and a scar on his cheek, Zack was a veteran of at least one tour of duty. He'd been killed when the same IED that saw Cloud discharged went off.

The worst part was telling his widow, Aerith, and her sister Cissnei. Roughly half of Cloud's army pension went towards them, to keep them going. The flower shop they ran wasn't bringing in enough money to live on.

Now, though, Cloud said a perfunctory goodbye to his co-worker, Rude. He worked at Turks Gym, a division of the massive Shinra Company.

Cloud walked out to his car and called Aerith to check on her. She said she was closing up the shop for today, and Cissnei was out with her boyfriend Reno. She also asked after Tifa. The two had met once before, and become fast friends. Like him, Aerith was concerned about Tifa's health.

_I need to do something drastic, _Cloud thought after he'd hung up and started driving to the apartment that he and Tifa shared. _Something that'll make Tifa feel good about the way she looks._

He smirked as an idea came to him.

* * *

Tifa shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. In her imagination, she had difficulty doing so, on account of how fat she was. In truth, however, it fit perfectly, barely showing her curves which, despite their owner's doubts, were quite sultry.

She walked out of the bathroom in only the towel, confident that Cloud wouldn't come home for some time yet.

The door opened, then closed. Cloud's familiar gait could be heard on the floor. Tifa panicked and froze to the spot.

The blonde former soldier turned the corner and saw Tifa naked bar the towel. He pretended not to notice, whereas his inner teenager was losing his mind.

Tifa was startled when Cloud suddenly rounded on her, pinning her to the wall. "C-cloud?" she stammered out. "What…"

He did not reply. Instead he placed one hand on her waist and kissed her.

Was Cloud…kissing her? Did he know how she felt? But…she's hideous. Why would a living god like Cloud show any interest in her?

The towel fell.

"Tifa…" Cloud murmured, his lips inches from hers, his callused hand resting on her bare hip. "You've always been perfect to me. Don't change that." He kissed her again.

Her…perfect? Impossible.

Then again…

Tifa kissed back, finally confident in herself. She pushed the blonde man into her room and kicked the door closed behind them.

The towel lay in the hallway, beside the door. Lying with it, forgotten, were all of Tifa's doubts.

_**Did I do good? *anxious for reviews, constructive criticisms, comments***_


End file.
